Nasir Jones, otherwise known as Nas or Nasty Nas, is the best lyricist of all-time in the rap game, easily the best rapper alive, and maybe the best all-time. From
Queensbridge, New York, he is one of the realest rappers all-time. He is hugely respected by anyone who knows shit about rap. His first album, 'Illmatic', (1994) is widely considered as one of the best rap albums of all-time, if not THE best. His second album, 'It Was Written' (1996) more or less equaled the genius of
Illmatic. Nas shit on Jay-Z in their beef after the death of legend Biggie Smalls, and is the king of NYC. Nas was the foundation for the lyrical rap of the '90s and although he is the realest rapper and is connected to the underground movement, is widely known even in the mainstream.
Example:
Y'all niggas deal with emotions like bitches
What's sad is I love you 'cause you're my brother
You traded your soul for riches
My child, I've watched you grow up to be famous
And now I smile like a proud dad, watchin his only son that made it
You seem to be only concerned with dissin women
Were you abused as a child, scared to smile, they called you ugly?
Well life is hard, hug me, don't reject me
Or make records to disrespect me, blatent or indirectly
In '88 you was gettin chased through your buildin
Callin my crib and I ain't even give you my numbers
All I did was gave you a style for you to run with
-Nas, 'Ether'
Jesus died at age 33, there's
thirty-three shots
from twin glocks there's sixteen apiece, that's
thirty-two
Which means, one of my guns was holdin 17
Twenty-seven hit your crew, six went into you
Everybody gotta die sometime; hope your funeral
never gets shot up, bullets tear through the innocent
Nothin is fair, niggaz roll up, shootin from wheelchairs
My heart is racin, tastin revenge in the air
I let the shit
slide for too many years, too many times
Now I'm strapped with a couple of macs, too many nines
If
y'all niggaz really wit me get busy load up the semis
Do more than just hold it explode the clip until you empty
There's nothin in our way - they bust, we bust, they rust, we rust
Led flyin, feel it? I feel it in my gut
THAT WE TAKE THESE BITCHES TO WAR, LIE 'EM DOWN
CAUSE WE STRONGER NOW MY NIGGA
THE TIME IS NOW!!
-Nas,
One Mic
There was a snitch on the block gettin niggaz knocked
So hold your stash until the coke
price drop
I know this crackhead, who said she gotta smoke nice rock
And if it's good she'll bring ya customers in measuring pots, but yo
You gotta slide on a vacation
Inside information keeps large niggaz
erasin and they wives basin
It drops deep as it does in my breath
I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined
I think of crime when I'm in a
New York state of mind
-Nas, NY State of Mind